A COVENTRY woman who suffered terrible burns as a child in a freak accident is trying to find the man who saved her life - almost 38 years on.

At the age of four, Michelle Ledington had been playing a couple of doors down from her house in Monksword Crescent, Henley Green, when a neighbour threw a blazing chip pan out of her front door in Henley Green, Coventry.

Flaming chip fat splashed over Michelle's head and shoulders leaving her screaming in agony.

A coalman, who was delivering in the street, rushed to her aid, ripping off his shirt to wrap round her blazing head and body.

It was his prompt action that saved her life but Michelle was left with scars and had to endure years of painful operations.

Over the years, Michelle, now aged 42, wondered if she would ever find out who the coalman was so she could thank him face to face.

Now,almost 38 years to the day since the accident,she has decided to do something about it.

Michelle, whose maiden name was Cashmore, still lives in Henley Green and is appealing to Coventry people to help her trace the man who saved her life on July 4, 1963.

She said: "Our neighbours had a chip pan fire in the house and the woman panicked and threw the pan out of the door. I was standing by the drain and it caught me and set me on fire. I was in shock.

"A man ripped off his shirt and covered me. He was a coalman who was delivering to one of the neighbours.He put out the flames and his prompt action saved my life.

"It also stopped me losing my hair completely, so I still have my own hair."

She was in a coma for three days and in Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital for four months. She underwent two or three operations every year until she was 18.

She added: "There was a story about me in the Coventry Evening Telegraph and reporters came round to ask for a picture of me but my mother was too distraught to give them one.

"We regret that now, because maybe that would have made the coalman come forward."

Mrs Ledington has discovered the coalman was from a coal firm contracted by credit company Provident, so that residents could pay weekly for their coal.

She is appealing for anyone who may remember local coal companies or coalmen, who worked in Henley Green to contact her on 07956 295715.